"The Blogosphere: The Future of Journalism"

On March 11, Howard R. Marsh Visiting Professor of Journalism Fara Warner presented to a packed room of professors, newspaper veterans and aspiring journalists. From the beginning of her lecture, it was clear that the seasoned business journalist--she has worked at The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and other national publications, and currently writes for Forbes, Fast Company and Mother Jones Magazine--was optimistic about the future of journalism. Citing the current economic disaster, the Internet and changes in advertising trends as reasons for the loss of 13,000 journalism jobs last year, Warner reminded the audience that this could be the "perfect storm" in which journalists finally embrace change and learn how to use these circumstances in their favor.

Warner also argued that with the rise of "talking heads" and pundits on cable news, as well as the popularity of sports, weather and entertainment stories on local news stations, the content of news has changed drastically since the mid-twentieth century. Also, technological playthings like widgets and podcasts have the capability to report on anything and everything. As a result, it is hard to define the real function of the newspaper. In addition, sites like LiveJournal and Blogger have changed the way people interact with news. Instead of passively reading a newspaper over breakfast, non-professionals can post news to their blogs, leave comments on news sites and even alter information on sites like Wikipedia. And this isn't a bad thing: most journalists learn on the job anyway. Fara's own site, Tumble with Fara, demonstrates her approach to training herself to be a multimedia journalist. In the face of a bad economy and an overwhelming amount of technology, Warner is recognizing the Internet as a tool for increasing the immediacy and flow of information around the world.

One site Fara mentioned in detail was Scoop44.com: an online national outlet covering the new administration, which was created by students around the country. As the Director of Human Resources for Scoop44, I'm very invested in this site and its message. At Scoop, we believe that a new generation of journalists (students) is leading the way online. We aim to report on the administration's impact on every aspect of society, from the immediate Washington D.C. area to the political culture of the Michigan campus to the impact of Michelle Obama's bare arms on fashion trends. I think Scoop is a great example of what journalists--of any age and experience level--should be doing: accepting technology as a friend and working towards creating new models for print and online media so that tomorrow we can still enjoy (some form of) news with our morning coffee.

Images:
1. http://www.motherjones.com/files/legacy/toc/2008/11/fara-warner.jpg
2. www.scoop44.com